News

2004 ORNL Story Tips

Materials - Cool under pressureDecember 01, 2004 — Firefighters, first responders and even team mascots and Disney characters could stay comfortable with a cartridge-based integrated cooling system being developed by a team of researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Navy's Navair Research Center.

Materials - Better distributed energyDecember 01, 2004 — A quest for superior spark plugs for natural gas engines that help power commercial buildings, schools, restaurants and hotels has ignited an effort between Champion and researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The goal is to develop spark plugs with life expectancies of one year (8,000 hours) instead of today's standard of between 1,000 and 4,000 hours.

Energy - Cleaner, cheaper coal powerDecember 01, 2004 — A system that monitors individual burners and allows operators of coal-fired power plants to make instantaneous adjustments to each burner can mean cleaner air and lower costs for utilities.

Energy Efficiency - Doing the Texas two-stepNovember 10, 2004 — A prototype energy system now being field tested in Austin, Texas, may revolutionize how businesses power and cool their buildings. The integrated energy system, implemented through a partnership between DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Austin Energy, the municipal utility, and developed by Burns & McDonnell, combines on-site electricity generation with cooling and heating to save energy.

Computing - Seeing is believingNovember 10, 2004 — Stellar explosions, protein structure and global climate models come to life in 1 billion vivid colors as scientists study their data and view simulations on a giant screen at the Center for Computational Sciences.

Materials - Beneath the surfaceNovember 10, 2004 — Researchers developing surgical implants, protective coatings for engine components, paints and hard coatings for tools are among those who will benefit from a state-of-the-art instrument recently installed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Transportation - Next-generation sensorsNovember 10, 2004 — Future automobiles and trucks may be equipped with a nitrogen oxide (NOx) sensor that helps reduce emissions by seamlessly activating NOx traps or by using other approaches. The sensor, which is being developed by a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Tim Armstrong and Ford Motor Co.

Environment - Nature's healing handNovember 10, 2004 — Streamside vegetation can help reduce the impact of increasing levels of nitrogen in rainfall that can cause algal blooms and degradation of drinking water.

Fusion - A twisted doughnutOctober 08, 2004 — Stellarators confine hot plasma in a circular, three-dimensional magnetic field, or torus, inside a fusion reactor. Fusion energy researchers have long sought the best shape for that field to optimize reactor performance.